Circles of Separation: Narrow Lane

Put your efforts towards the things in life that enhance your highest self.

Chapter 51: Right Next Door

“We have taken matters into our own hands,” said Mullum-Mullum to Amira. “We had concerns about Gabriel’s safety in regards Evanora. There is no need for you to be worried, however, we ask that you not see him unless instructed to do so.” Mullum-Mullum gazed into the distance. Amira couldn’t see where he was looking. Nor could she see anything around him. Normally, if Amira saw Mullum-Mullum in her night-travels, she saw him in the setting of the Darnall rose garden. However, for some reason, tonight, he seemed to be standing in a blank space with no distinguishing features.

“I guess,” sighed Amira, “Gabriel hasn’t suffered enough yet.”

“We’d be out of business,” laughed Mullum-Mullum, “if people were done with their suffering.”

Amira woke up. That was strange, she thought. What have they done? And why is Mullum-Mullum not talking to me from the rose garden? She was relieved that Mullum-Mullum and co. had decided to do something about Evanora. Amira had been more than a little concerned about Gabriel living right next door to Evanora, although, he was oblivious of that fact. Her consolation had been that he was, also, living right next door to Rose. Even more comforting was that Mullum-Mullum came to the estate’s garden.

Amira soon discovered what they had done. The next morning, on the way to the Curiosity Shop, she pulled up at the old estate. To her shock, it was gone. The whole thing was gone. No old house or beautiful, forgotten garden or hundreds of decades-old roses or thousands of newly-awakening bulbs. The area had been totally raised for redevelopment. Amira walked around the flattened block to see if there was any sense of her four great aunts and their mother. Nothing. She looked up to see if there were any birds. Not only were there no birds but all the trees on the estate were gone too. There were not even any cats.

Chapter 52: Replanting

After the Darnall estate had been demolished, there was no longer a physical place in which to meet Mullum-Mullum. Feeling that she needed some help, Amira went to Erdo in the Leleks. Erdo was a step or, maybe, a few steps down from Mullum-Mullum in the spiritual hierarchy but he was still an advanced teacher. Amira crossed the rickety walking bridge but Erdo wasn’t in his usual spot by the lake. Instead, Farkas was standing there. It was, somewhat, out of context.

“What are you doing here?” asked Amira.

“Well, that’s a fine hello,” said Farkas. “Erdo told me to bring you back to the farm.”

They walked the half-hour track further into the forest, mostly, in silence. Amira was very interested to see Erdo’s house and farm. In all these years, she had never been there and he had not even mentioned it. It was only that Farkas had started working at the farm, this year, that she knew about it.

“How long have you had the farm, Erdo?” asked Amira trying to make sense of why Erdo hadn’t told her about it.

“Oh, it just seems like yesterday,” said Erdo. Indicating the end of that topic, he ushered Amira into the lounge room. The room was warmed by a wood fire and had comfortable, homely furniture. It was the sort of lounge room where one feels, instantly, at home. Farkas turned to leave but Erdo told him to stay. “We are all in this journey together,” said Erdo. The look on Farkas’s face suggested that he thought his journey was private but he stayed anyway.

“Today, we are going to talk about change,” said Erdo as if Amira and Farkas were in a class that they had signed up for. “In my early years in the forest, I was married. Miya was, originally, my student. Later, she lived with me here in the Leleks. She was beautiful in every way. Her spiritual progress was very rapid. After seven years together, she told me that she would be leaving her body. I suggested that there was no hurry. She replied, ‘Right at this moment, my life is perfect. I am perfectly happy both on the inside and the outside. I may not get this opportunity again for a long time.’ The next evening as we were sitting together, I looked over to her and could see that she had gone. She left her body behind as easily as taking off her clothes. She was twenty-nine.” Erdo got up and poked the fire. “The yogis call it, Mahasamadhi,” he said. “It is consciously and intentionally leaving one’s body, at an appropriate time, and dissolving into the Infinite. It is rare.”

Farkas looked like he couldn’t think of anything worse than “dissolving into the Infinite”. Amira couldn’t help laughing, “Don’t worry, Farkas,” she said, “I don’t think you will be dissolving anytime soon.” Farkas couldn’t see the humour in that. Erdo sat still for a few minutes. Amira looked out the window. As it was winter, the fields were bare. Soon Erdo and Farkas would be preparing the soil for planting.

“Back to the here and now,” said Erdo with a smile. “Relationships are constantly changing. They have to be dealt with every day anew. They are not constant, unchanging entities. You have to pay attention. If things take a turn for the worse then it is painful but it’s a chance to see things differently, a chance to see more. So that is a helpful pain.”

On the way out, Amira looked at Erdo’s house number; forty-five. “Why is your house number forty-five?” asked Amira. “There is no street and there are no other houses.”

“Farkas may be familiar with the slang meaning of forty-five,” said Erdo. “It comes from a forty-five calibre pistol and is, sometimes, used to refer to a particular prized part of the male anatomy.”

“Oh,” said Amira feeling like she was in the middle of the wrong conversation.

“But that is not our forty-five,” said Erdo. “Our forty-five was given by the Advisors of the Homeland when Miya returned to them. Numerologically, forty-five means to put our efforts towards the things in life that enhance our highest self.”

Almost as an afterthought, Erdo said, “I will not be replanting crops in the coming spring and so I won’t need you anymore, Farkas. You will have other things to do back in Waldmeer.” Turning to Amira, he asked, “Do you need someone to take you back to the walking bridge?”

“No thanks, Erdo,” said Amira. “I know the way.”

Chapter 53: Crowds

The following week, Amira was dropping books to the Curiosity Shop from Teresa’s Waldmeer bookshop. As she approached, she saw that the Curiosity Shop was crowded. That’s good for business, she thought. However, when she got there, she found only Teresa in the shop.

“Where is everyone else?” asked Amira.

“What do you mean?” said Teresa. “I’ve only had a few visitors all morning.”

Out of the corner of her eye, every now and again, Amira could see “the crowd” coming and going. “Oh my goodness,” she said to herself. “It’s my great aunts. They have all moved into their old Curiosity Shop!”

It was dusk by the time Amira left the Curiosity Shop. She could see the fading sunset colours through the entrance door of the Darnall Arcade. Coming through the sliding door was an elderly lady with long, grey hair and a walking stick. It was the lady that had been helping Grace with her morning teas. Grace said her name was Rose. Amira assumed that it was her Great Aunt Rose, although, she wasn’t sure until she looked into Rose’s eyes.

“We would like you to come to our meeting,” said Rose kindly but not leaving room for anything but a positive answer. They walked a few streets and then turned into a lane that Amira had not been down before. At the bottom of the lane, they turned into another small street called Narrow Lane. They entered an ivy-clad building by its back door. Inside, there was an expectant but calm atmosphere. The folk in the room were a mixture of Earth dwellers and inter-dimensional beings. Mullum-Mullum was seated in the front row along with Lord Lan-Lan from Long Hill. Erdo was a few rows away with his sister Milyaket from the Homeland. The Head Gardener from the Garden of Garourinn was, also, in the small crowd but the Master of Garourinn was not. There were humans in the room too. Amira vaguely recognised some of the faces as people she had crossed paths with, at various times. She thought she saw Salt, the Clinker elder from the back hills of Waldmeer. She had the feeling that the inter-dimensional folk were there to support the humans. There were about thirty individuals (human and inter-dimensional) in the room, although, there may have been many more invisible ones that Amira couldn’t see. They were all waiting for someone to speak.

“For those of you visiting for the first time, my name is Advaitaguru,” said a man who had appeared up the front. “You are very welcome.” Advaitaguru spoke in an unhurried but direct manner. His presence was, simultaneously, humbling and uplifting. “Humans who are present,” he said, “please, try to practise these two points:

Do not like or dislike anyone. Share your love regardless of how it is received. Anyone who can receive it, will do so. Many, who you are unaware of, will benefit from it.

See yourself as a total person; not a partial person. Do not seek completion from other humans.

He paused to let the two important lessons sink into the memory of his human audience. “Remember,” he continued, still speaking to the Earth dwellers, “you have the support of everyone in this room and many more. Do not be disturbed by pains which come and go. Pick yourself up and take each pain as an important opportunity to progress. Tell yourself that you will have a happy and blessed life until you no longer wish to be here. Forgive everyone who hurts you. They are suffering already. You are loved beyond anything you can currently perceive. Be brave and do not fall asleep.” With that, he raised his hand and a light passed over the room. A mighty peace entered everyone’s heart. The inter-dimensional beings began to fade and disappear. The remaining humans smiled at each other, nodded in acknowledgment, and, also, left.

On the drive home to Waldmeer, Amira repeated Advaitaguru’s words, Share your love regardless of how it is received. You will have a happy and blessed life. She looked into the black night sky with its endless, radiant lights and said, “Thank-you,” to the Power behind all the other powers.